Heat recovering method and apparatus



1942- 'r. J. CHURCH 2,293,490

HEAT RECOVERING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Jan. 5, 1940 flwyak 24 W 7 wk;

ATT'oR EYs Patented Aug. 18, 1942 HEAT RECOVERING METHOD AND APPARATUS Thomas J. Church, Fieldsboro, N. J., assignor to Church Brick Company, Bordentown, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 5, 1940, Serial No. 312,483

2 Claims.

In the manufacture of brick, two types of kiln have long been used for firing the bricks after being formed and dried, namely, updraft and down-draft kilns. The down-draft type of kiln lends itself readily to recovery of the residual heat remaining in the bricks after the completion of the firing operation, and it has long been the practice to recover this heat and utilize it for drying out the next batch of bricks to be fired, by passing air through the down-draft kiln and passing the thus pre-heated air into the apparatus which is used for drying out the bricks next to be fired.

However, the updraft type of kiln does not lend itself so readily to heat recovery, and in so far as I am aware, no practical way has heretofore been found or used for recovering the residual heat from kilns of this last mentioned type. The invention accordingly aims primarily to provide practical methods and apparatus by which the residual heat remaining in the bricks upon the completion of the firing operation, may be recovered from kilns of the updraft type.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the description hereinafter contained which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, discloses an appropriate method and apparatus for carrying out the purposes of the invention. In the drawing Fig. 1 is a schematic View showing a battery of kilns of the updraft type equipped with connections leading to a brick drying apparatus and appropriately arranged for the recovery of residual heat as above mentioned.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Brick kilns of the updraft type as customarily made, are substantially rectangular in cross section and provided with an open top, the bricks (not shown) being stacked up in the kiln proper, and the kiln being provided with a suitable number of furnace chambers spaced along the side wall 4 of the kiln, each furnace chamber having a fire box chamber I, fire box opening 2 with door 3, grate 5, and ash pit 6 with ash door I. The construction and mode of operation of such kilns being well known in the art, no further detailed description of the above parts of the apparatus is made herein. The steps of charging the previously dried bricks into the kiln, and firing them therein, may be carried out according to prior practice.

In order to recover the residual heat remain- 55 ing in the bricks upon the completion of the firing operation, I insert into the lower portion of the kiln a suitable number of suction conduits which may be connected to an appropriate passageway for the preheated air, in such manner that exterior air may be drawn into the open tops of the kilns and down through the checkerlike spaces between the hot completely fired bricks which are within the kiln, and thus abstract the residual heat from the bricks, after which the preheated air is conveyed to the point of utilization thereof.

In the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 2, for example, the kiln at the right of the figure is shown as connected during the heat recovery operation, a series of suction conduits 8 having flanges 8a, being inserted into certain of the firebox openings 2 of the kiln, and delivering into a preheated air passageway 9. As shown, certain other similar suction conduits ID are also inserted into other openings 2 of the kiln and deliver into a similar preheated air passageway II. Thus exterior air is drawn down sufiiciently uniformly through the open top of the kiln and passes through the spaces between the bricks to abstract the heat from the latter, and the operation may be continued to cool the bricks rapidly and recover as much heat as is worth while therefrom. The conduits 8 and III are detachable, suitable caps I2 (Fig. 1) being placed over the openings 9a and Ila of the preheated air passageways when the corresponding suction conduits are not in use. In this way the residual heat may be recovered from the fired bricks in kilns of the updraft type, with very little alteration or addition to the kiln structure.

In Fig. 1, I have shown diagrammatically a system for recovering and utilizing the residual heat contained in the fired bricks, as produced in a battery of kilns A, B, C and D of the updraft type, the preheated air passageways 9 and II above referred to being connected to a header IZawhich delivers into th brick drying apparatus I3 in which the bricks are subjected to currents of hot air to dry them, after being formed, and prior to being charged into one of the kilns AD. Suitable air suction devices I4 as known in the art are used to induce the flow of air through such kiln or kilns as are in the proper stage of operation, so that the preheated air thereby obtained will be passed through the drying chamber of apparatus I3. As shown in Fig. 1, the kiln A is in the stage where heat is being recovered from fired bricks contained therein, suction conduits 8 and I0 being then in position to connect the interior of kiln 8 respectively with the preheated air passageways 9 and II as above described. The remaining kilns B-D of Fig. 1, may be assumed to be in other phases of their operation in which they are disconnected from the preheated air passageways 9 and l I, the caps 12 which serve the kilns B to D being shown in position. In the apparatus illustrated, the openings 9a and Ha are located in staggered relation as shown in Fig. 1.

While the invention has been disclosed as carried out by apparatus of the above described specific construction, it should be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention in its broader aspects, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of recovering residual heat from fired bricks and the like contained within an open topped kiln of the up-draft type, which includes placing suction conduits in communication respectively with a plurality of furnace chambers spaced along a side wall of the kiln at a lower level thereof, and applying suction to said conduits to cause exterior air to pass into the open top of the kiln and downwardly between the fired bricks in various zones thereof and through the furnace chambers which are respectively adjacent said zones into the respective conduits communicating therewith.

2. Apparatus of the character described including an open topped kiln of the up-draft type which is constructed and arranged to receive bricks or the like to be fired, said kiln having a plurality of furnace chambers spaced along a side wall of the kiln at a lower level thereof, and a plurality of suction conduits having their intake ends communicating respectively with said furnace chambers, said apparatus having preheated air passageway means communicating with the delivery ends of said conduits, said furnace chambers being provided with door openings, and said conduits being detachably received within said openings.

THOMAS J. CHURCH. 

